We had an incredible experience watching the LORD do his thing at this year’s Socktober event. The outreach was held on October 22, 2016 at Hurt Park in downtown Atlanta. The city of Atlanta has close to 7,000 people living on the streets, in shelters, and in transitional housing. Our work with the homeless has identified a huge need for proper foot care and foot wear among our friends on the streets. Improper footwear, long periods of standing, and prolonged exposure to moisture lead to a number of foot diseases that cause infections that can become severe and disabling. Our goal was getting 1,000 socks to our brothers and sisters living on the streets. But, the LORD blessed this event and we were able to hand out 2,000 socks to the homeless in Atlanta! It was a blessing to see the Gospel reach so many people in a powerful way.

Check out this testimony from one of the ministries that came all the way from New York to serve:

James Dollard was raised in the Eastside of Atlanta and grew up exposed to a lot of drugs and violence. He thanks God for his mom, who is a Christian, and always served the Lord. He says that her faith kept him from getting too deep into his surroundings, but that eventually, he was influenced by the streets outside his home. There came a point where James had the opportunity to go to college in Carrollton, Ga., and he saw it as an opportunity to start over. However, after some time he went back to drinking, partying, smoking weed and not being productive overall, which led to him dropping out.

At that time he says his focus was getting money, which put him back around drugs and violence. He recalls shoot outs, police raids and chases happening all around him. In hindsight, he believes this was God trying to get his attention. Not too long after what he calls a crazy event involving a gun, he met a Christian rapper named Young Noah. He says Noah spoke to him about the situations in his life and encouraged him to walk away from it and pursue his faith. The next week everyone involved in the crazy gun incident was arrested. James says, “By the grace of God I wasn’t there. It was my final wake up call.” James says he realized the life he was living was detrimental, so he decided to team up with Noah and start a ministry called, “Dirty Work.” Using rap and community service to speak to others about the pitfalls of urban life they began to tell people about Jesus.

After attending a City Takers Experience with DJ Network, featuring Lecrae and Tedashii, James was inspired by the mission of City Takers using hip-hop to draw people to the truth. After that night, he kept attending City Takers events and hanging around the team. He felt that City Takers had his same heart and mindset of being real and telling people that only a life with Jesus is the answer. He says that’s when he wanted to start serving with the ministry. He wanted to bring what he had been doing with Noah to help serve even more people. He thanks City Takers for offering friendship and accountability. James says, “I’ve seen God do amazing things with the ministry and my life personally.” James explains that the heart he has now to go out and serve people in the city and wherever God sends the ministry, compared to everything else that he’s experienced in his life, “there really is no greater feeling.”

Plain James is a hip-hop artist who has been serving as an urban missionary with City Takers for a year. He is passionate about teaching the Bible to new converts and going anywhere and everywhere necessary to reach people with the life changing Gospel of Jesus Christ.

If asked to describe Double in one word many would say “generous.” Having served with City Takers for the past 5 years, the team would say Double is definitely generous with money, his time and SNEAKERS! Double is known for his footwear but especially for giving it away. Being on the City Takers team means serving many people in many places. We are in constant contact with youth and with ‘the least of these.’ Double will take the shoes off his feet for a young person who attends a concert and approaches him after the event, for a friend who lives on the street during our homeless outreach or a friend of the ministry who serves or visits.

If we rewind to the beginning of Double’s life, we can see a story of God’s amazing grace. Double’s mom was 18 years old when she became pregnant with him and already had a 3- year old son. Feeling desperate, she decided to have an abortion. His mom was in the clinic, with the doctor, on the table, already prepped, when she says she heard a voice say “No.” Double’s mom was not a believer at the time but we can see God’s hand in his life from the beginning. Moving forward into Double’s childhood, his father was shot when he was 6 years old. He grew up well acquainted with violence, drugs and poverty but God continued to keep him. Around the age of 13, Double was able to encounter the Lord and made a decision to follow Him. He decided to get into Christian rap and released his first album in 2004, around the same time he met Scott Free. He says Scott was always encouraging him to serve and use his gift outside the church but that he was content with rapping in churches for honorariums. From 2004 to 2010, before Double decided to join the City Takers team, he recalls falling away and getting caught up with the temptations of this life. After realizing that he was not called to be an artist, but to live out the Great Commission and use his gift as a tool to show God’s love and grace to others, he has experienced what it means to have a real life, abundantly, free from the lures of this world. He is now an urban missionary serving with City Takers and is a youth leader at his home church.

This is me (Jordan Teems) talking to Lee, a young dude I met today in the park (Chattanooga, TN). Lee is homeless in his twenties. He has three children and a bachelors degree in psychology. After talking with Lee for about 45 minutes I asked what I could pray about for him; he asked me to pray that he could get a home so his children could stay with him. He’s got a great heart, but he’s made some mistakes just like the rest of us.

“Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.” – Philippians 2:3

Had a great time serving with this awesome crew today [Socktober]!!!Big thanks to my softball crew for donating socks to such an amazingcause! Don’t be afraid to get involved with what God’s doing throughCity Takers. Their hearts to serve people that most would reject isamazing!!! Oh and let me just say [church] got me all wound up forthis service project. I am truly excited that I’ve FINALLY found mytribe! You know you’re in good company when all the people around youjust want to go hard for Jesus!!!